Inside the Braves with MLB.com's Mark Bowman

Braves not actively looking to trade Escobar

Received a call from an American League scout today, who said his club had gained the sense that the Braves might be willing to deal Yunel Escobar. But before worrying those of you who understand the great value Escobar brings from a defensive standpoint, I’ll let you know it appears he’ll be in Atlanta past this year’s July 31 trade deadline.

Yes Escobar still infuriates opponents, umpires, teammates and his own coaches with his flamboyant approach to his game. And to tell you the truth, there are some members of the Braves organization who would like to trade him.

But at the end of the day, the guys who crunch the numbers will be quick to tell you that Escobar’s $435,000 salary makes him one of their best bargains. While his offensive production has declined dramatically, it’s hard to argue with those who still believe he is as good as any of the game’s other shortstops from a defensive perspective.

It was interesting to see FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal suggest the cash-strapped Dodgers should trade Matt Kemp. As Rosenthal mentioned, the Braves would certainly be interested in obtaining the talented outfielder, whose current $4 million salary will still be a bargain when it escalates to $6.95 million in 2011.

But it doesn’t appear the Dodgers have started calling teams to inform them that Kemp is available.

McLouth update: Nate McLouth dealt with what he described as a “constant” headache for essentially two straight weeks after his June 8 collision with Jason Heyward. McLouth awoke Wednesday without any headaches and arrived at Turner Field Friday happy to report he had been pain free for 48 hours.

It might still be a while before McLouth is cleared to begin playing. But he was hoping to gain a better timetable after meeting with a Braves doctor on Friday night.

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7 Comments

Kemp for Escobar would be interesting. . . . but that is probably more of a pipe dream. Glad to hear that McLouth is feeling better. However, i wouldn’t expect him to begin any exertional exercises for a least a week considering he has been experiencing headaches for so long. Maybe this stint will get Nate focused and come back with a new look at the plate….I hope. Also, in case anyone was wondering, Medlen brought it again tonight. Kawakami has just as good of a chance of staying in the rotation as Greg McMichael does throwing a fastball 90mph+.
And I can’t forget, congrats to BMac on his 100th HR and Wagner for his 400th save (cooperstown, i think so).
Oh and to Tommygriff, yes we got swept but its not time to get down on everything. The game of baseball can be unforgiving. Yes Glaus and Heyward are cooling off, but Chipper and BMac are heating up. It’s going to be a dogfight with the Phils and the Mets (surprisingly) in this NL East race.

Huge congratulations to Billy Wagner, a VA boy like me. He is a class act and deserves serious accolades. It must be tough to think about hanging the cleats up when you look like he did tonite. I also want to give my highest praise to Kris Medlen. He came in to this game with a team that was scuffling offensively and didn’t have all of his best tools, but man is this kid a competitor. He has been and is cementing his place as one of my favorite Braves. He was stellar again tonite and I am sure he put to rest any notion that he would be going back to the bullpen. Some people have been saying that maybe we should be careful with him, he hasn’t pitched that many innings before, He’s not as big as some of the other pitchers(I guess he is gonna break down because he’s not 6’5″ 240). I say this kid is like Lincecum and Hudson and Maddux. His small stature actually works in his favor in pitching a lot.He’s not carrying a lot of weight in Atlanta in the summertime, he’s in great shape physically and he has proved that lately by going deeper and deeper into ballgames. The only reason he didn’t pitch more innings in the minors was because someone thought he was a relief pitcher(size bias again). He is gonna be great in the lineup. He is one tough cookie. We only wish we had 5 pitching so well.

I’m not down on Braves, just concerned things don’t go south from the warning signs. Offense hasn’t looked too good lately with serious issues surrounding Heyward IMO. He either needs rest or moved down in the lineup. Glaus is tapering a bit and overall we’re not scoring much lately. My point was that we need to stop the slide now to prevent a prolonged slump. Tonight helped a lot but still not much offense. I’d like to see Cabrera in the 2 while he is hot for awhile and move Heyward to 6 or 7 again. He is swinging at bad pitches, missing fastballs, trying to pull everything, not driving the ball, and looking a little frustrated for the first time. His OBP, BA and production have dropped significantly in the last 5 weeks. We need to do something to help him back.

Ok, I agree with you in the fact that Heyward is struggling and Glaus is not as hot as he has been, but lets face it if Glaus continued on the hot streak he was on, he would have won the triple crown…that’s baseball in a nutshell, ups and downs. But you also have to look at the work that Chipper (.351 avg last 10 games), BMac (3 HR in last 5 games), and Cabrera (.343 avg last 10 games) have done in the past couple weeks. They are picking up the slack felt by the cooling off of Heyward and Glaus. My biggest concern offensively is Escobar. We have got to have his bat to come around soon. As for Heyward, maybe the 2 spot is too much at this point, but the kid is just going to have to make adjustments. There is a lot of tape out on the kid now and good pitchers are making good adjustments. It’s his turn to adjust and progress farther as a professional. However, it is a good point that the 2 hole may not be the best position to feel out the growing pains. As great as an accolade as an All-Star appearance is, he could probably use the time off. . . .

I guess it’s left to me to bring up the obvious. Virtually EVERY young hitter who has arrived in the Braves camp for a number of years has somehow lost his swing after getting here. These are players who have excelled at many levels prior to their arrival in the Bigs. Why is it it that it is always THEIR fault that they struggle after an initial period of greatness. Can this always be a simple case of players failing to perform at the Major league level? Why does it seem that many of those same inflicted players go on to resurrect their careers elsewhere? Why does this illness seem to affect them only after they struggle for the first time. Why does this saga seem to be repeated over and over and over again? Why does it impact this team again and again? Obviously the players are talented enough. Hmmmmm, what could it be?????

I am one of the many that loves Escobar and sees him replaces Chipper at third when he retires and seeing hicks takeover at short now the Matt kemp deal that would be nice but who would we give up and and what cost. Now maybe sending Escobar for Kemp but the problem is that there is now where to play escobar unless u add Casey Blake or DeWitt and have Escobar play either second or third base. Now on to the Angels the only persons if i was Frank Wren that i would be asking for is Rob Quinlan Erik Ayabar and Peter Bourjos. Now if its the tigers I would love to see them get Inge ryan Raburn and Ramon Santiago As for Kemp send them Schafer Mike Minor and Diory.

Well, it looks like JJ will be coming back this week. I think today is Kawakami’s audition for long relief… My gut says that they will send down chavez and put KK in the pen, but they may want KK to consistently get some innings. . .

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